The Importance of Andrew Breitbart

Rather than post what I had written for today, I’ve decided I would rather discuss what, in my opinion, Andrew Breitbart did that was so vital to conservatism. Specifically, Andrew showed conservatives that while they could win political battles, they would keep losing the war unless they came to realize the importance of Hollywood and television.

Why does it matter whether films and television shows are liberal, conservative or neither? The answer is simple: films influence America.

Culture defines normal. It is through our culture that we pass our values and our beliefs from one generation to the next. Hollywood defines modern American culture, there’s no escaping that. It influences the way people see the world, how they solve their problems and whom they look to for solutions. It tells them how they should live, how they should act, and what they should believe. It is the parent so many parents are not. And unless conservatives want Hollywood raising a generation of reflexive liberals with no sense of personal responsibility, we need to depoliticize the film industry.

Hollywood continuously smears conservatives and the conservative label while whitewashing liberals and liberalism. This infuses the culture with the idea that being a conservative is a bad thing and being a liberal is a good thing. Consequently, many people are uneasy about being considered conservatives even though their beliefs are by definition conservative. It also creates boogeymen which have turned normal occupations like being a soldier or a businessman into villains and undermined the very spirit of America. And unless conservatives want Hollywood defining the culture against them, this need to change and Hollywood needs to be depoliticized.

Andrew realized that and told conservatives that they needed to fight back from within Hollywood rather than just moaning about it as consumers. He created Big Hollywood for that and the message took off. Suddenly, rather than dismissing Hollywood as hopelessly leftist and seeing it as a fact of life, conservatives came to realize they needed to start working to seize back the culture.

And I am seeing the fruits of this everywhere. I’m seeing conservative filmmakers and actors come out of the closet. I’m seeing public backlashes that are changing the way Hollywood acts. This year’s Oscars were short on politics. . . Matt Damon and George Clooney both have begun trying to hide their politics. . . pro-Obama films have been withdrawn when they were called election propaganda. . . and networks like HBO have begun having to explain themselves.

This is all because of Andrew. Andrew is the one who woke everyone up to this.

Even on a more personal note, Andrew is directly responsible for all of us meeting each other. Big Hollywood is the first political site at which I participated and it’s where most of us met each other. And I thank him for that.

Bless you Andrew Breitbart. Rest in peace.